This invention generally relates to can cartons and more particularly to carrying handles for such cartons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,816 issued Dec. 17, 1985 and owned by the assignee of this invention discloses a carrying handle for a can carton which includes a pair of flaps closing a finger receiving slot formed in the top wall of the carton. Slits project from the ends of the slot and down into the carton side walls. The flaps are foldable inwardly of the carton to open the slot in the top wall and to form a cushion for the hand of a user carrying the carton. Such flaps must be arranged midway between two adjacent cans inside the carton so that the space between the two cans accommodates the fingers of a user when the fingers are inserted through the slot. This, in other words, means that it depends on the number of cans within a carton whether the finger receiving slot can be defined in the mid location on the top wall of the carton to thereby allow the carton to be well balanced when it is held by the slot edge.
In a typical fifteen-can carton, for example, wherein cans with horizontal axes are arranged in three tiers of five cans each, the slot cannot be formed in the mid location but in a location offset therefrom. This offset location of the slot causes inconvenience depending on which one of the longitudinal edges of the slot a user grips when he or she carries the carton. More particularly, when one of the longitudinal edges were gripped, the carton would be tilted in the direction of the tips of the user's fingers, which makes the grip on the carton less stable or which necessitates the user to grip the other edge of the slot.
What is needed, therefore, is a carrying handle for a can carton having a finger receiving slot, which is particularly adapted for positioning the slot offset from the carton wall midpoint. Such a handle should allow a stable grip regardless of which one of the edges of the slot a user grips.